The beauty of Vienna

Vienna truly is a beautiful city. It has many parks (which are much more enjoyable in the warmer months of the year, I would imagine) and architecture that makes you question if you are actually in Paris.

As every blog and travel guide out there seems to note ad nauseam, Vienna is a “wonderful mix of old and new” or “sits so amazingly between the present and the past.” As tired as you and I are of hearing that, I have come to know it to be true.

I think that this is because there isn’t really a compact “historic center” of Vienna like most comparable cities in Europe.

The Ringstraße (ring street/road) encircles the inner city, but we found that all of the main sights/sites are quite spread out within this circle. Very different than Munich, let’s say, where everything seemed to be in one spot.

One of the best examples of this mix of old and new was in Stephansplatz, which is the home of the old gothic cathedral as well as modern buildings for shopping.

A short distance away from that, there’s Peterskirche which seems to be an island of a church surrounded by major shopping streets.

From there, we quickly came across the Prunksaal state hall, which is part of Austrian’s National Library. Had I seen pictures of its interior sooner, I probably would have tried to take a peak inside. So, no entry for us.

Just across the way, we came to Michaelerplatz and Josefplatz. Here, you can find the Spanish Riding School, the Albertina, the Opera House, and Hotel Sacher among other historical buildings.

From there, we managed to find the Hofburg, which was the home of the Habsburgs. If you know anything about Austrian history, you know a few things, but mainly Marie Antoinette, Hitler, and the House of Habsburgs. The Hofburg Palace is also the home and office of the Austrian president today.

Right across the street is the Naturhistoriches Museum (Natural History Museum) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum). The open space between these two mirrored buildings is where we came across one of the Christmas markets.

Right across the street again is the MuseumsQuartier which is right next to the Volkstheater.

In the other direction from the Natural and Ary History Museums is the Parlament (I think that you can figure out that that means Parliament). Right in front of the building is the Athena Fountain. Athena, being the goddess of wisdom, stands above others in the fountain showing her power.

From there, you see the Rathaus (city hall), which looks very similar to the New Town Hall of Munich. This was the home of the main Christmas market in Vienna.

As I mentioned before, we also went to the Schloss Schönbrunn, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This palace was also a residence of the Habsburgs.

Because our time in Vienna was so limited, we didn’t go inside any buildings/museums apart from the cathedral. I have hopes of returning to Vienna in the summer sometime in order to get a better feel of the city and its offerings. However, it isn’t the highest on my list of cities to which I want to return. It was a pretty city and its architecture amazing, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought that I would. It just didn’t grab me the way that say, Prague did (post to come!).

Christmas in Vienna

I think for most Americans abroad, there are two days in particular that make it difficult to be away from home: Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thanksgiving is always filled with family, food, and, for my family, decorating for Christmas, which is one of my favorite past times. My first Thanksgiving away from home was when I studied in Spain, but my program tried to make it special with a fancy dinner that attempted to be like an American Thanksgiving with everyone in our study abroad group getting together to spend the evening together. This year was my second away, and I honestly didn’t do anything except draw a hand turkey! I missed putting up the Christmas decorations, and I really craved some turkey, cranberry sauce, and apple crisp, but I managed.

Christmas, however, I knew would be more difficult. Especially as this was my first Christmas not spent with family.

We left Munich very, very early on Christmas Eve in order to get to Vienna a bit before noon. Once there, we had to hit the ground running, as we figured that basically everything would be closing in a couple of hours on the 24th through the 26th (they celebrate Boxing Day here).

First, though, we wanted to find our hostel to ease our backs from our backpacks, which was very much easier said than done. The directions were horrific but we found it after wandering an hour and asking who knows how many people for directions. As we were wandering, I got this sinking feeling in my stomach, noticing that the Christmas market stalls along the streets where we were were completely shut down and being packed away.

Thankfully, after setting our things down, we made it to the Rathaus, where there was a most romantic market set up, backdropped with the huge and gorgeous gothic Rathaus (city hall). The market itself was bustling with tourists and locals alike, sipping glühwein and tasting Christmas treats.

There was so much to see and eat, but we wandered through the market for a bit, knowing that we’d come back later that night in order to sample all the more treats and maybe do a little shopping.

Just a couple of hours into our first day in Vienna, the sun was already setting (one of the biggest downsides to traveling in the winter…it gets dark at 4pm!). We wandered the streets and found a cute little church to look around in before warming up (another MAJOR downside to traveling in the winter…I never want to be outside!) at the hostel and wishing our respective families a Merry Christmas before venturing out again.

There was supposed to be a big Christmas tree lighting in front of the Rathaus followed by Christmas carols starting at 7pm. We got there a bit early only to be supremely disappointed that not only was the Christmas tree already lit up, but that there was no singing and all of the Christmas market stalls were already being packed up and taken down. If that didn’t damper our Christmas spirit, I don’t know what would!

There was so much food left to sample! And so many shops that needed further exploration! (I was in search of a music box which I never had the chance to get…)

Instead, we walked around, looking at the Christmas lights that were thankfully still up.

Unfortunately, an especially hard part about traveling on Christmas is that everything shuts down. I was so looking forward to some amazing Viennese food, like apple strudels, Sacher torte, and Wiener schnitzel. Sadly, most of the restaurants that we came across were either closed or had a “special menu” for Christmas that included 6-courses, cost 100+ euros, and required reservations.

No thanks.

We decided to go to midnight mass at Stephansdom (the cathedral) which was a beautiful service despite being insanely packed and neither of us really understanding anything except a word here or a phrase there.

My tip: If you plan to go to the mass, plan to go early. Then go even earlier. We got there at 10:15 and there were already between 100-200 people waiting in line for the doors to open (at 11). If you want to sit, get there no later than 10:30.

Despite a bad start to our Christmas Day (cold, wind, rain, and terrible homesickness on my part), our Christmas Day in Vienna turned out lovely. We walked around the city, taking in most of the major sites from the outside and actually came across two Christmas markets that were still open!

The first one that we found was in the Museumsquartier which was, on my personal Christmas market scale, average. I’m sure very charming for many, but to me, it felt empty.

Not to mention it was fairly empty (for Christmas market standards…especially on Christmas).

The other Christmas market was situated right in front of the Schönbrunn Palace which was so gorgeous and is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with its garden (which I am certain is magical come spring or summer).

This actually turned out to be one of my favorite Christmas markets that I have been to. The handicrafts and decorations were all handmade and the food was to die for. Plus it was Christmas and it lifted my spirits after encountering some disappointments earlier on Christmas Eve/Day. 

I know that there are a lot of people that regularly spend Christmas away from home and think nothing of it. But for me, coming from a family that loves getting together to spend Christmas with all of the traditions that we have, it was hard to spend my first Christmas away from home. At the same time, it was a good experience. Especially in such a beautiful city such as Vienna. I can thank my friend for sharing the day and memory with, as it would have been a lot more depressing without her!

Here’s to my insane picture abilities. Either looking in the wrong spot or having my eyes closed in 50% of all photos.

Not even exaggerating.

(And technically that’s from Munich on Christmas Eve’s eve, but who’s really counting?)